Category: motherhood

mentoring, motherhood, parenting, postpartum, pregnancy

Free Mentoring Support Line for Parents

Roshnii Rose
photo credit

Pregnancy and the early months and years with a new child provide ongoing opportunities to navigate unknown terrain and face emotional and physical challenges. 

This time of the covid-19 pandemic can create heightened anxiety and fear as we find ourselves teetering on the brink of yet another unknown. It is also proving to be a time of slowing down, simplifying our lives and finding new resources within ourselves to cope with what is unfolding around us. 

If you are pregnant or parenting a baby or young child/ren and you would benefit from the support of a compassionate mentor in this period of added uncertainty, we are offering free online mentoring sessions over the coming period. 

This is a chance to connect with yourself and to honour the rite of passage you are moving through at a time when the strange mix of news, social media and physical isolation may be adding stress or confusion to your daily life. 

As mentors, we offer a heart-centred approach that allows you to process what is arising for you and find your own meaningful and achievable solutions. 

We use tools such as empathic listening, meditation and visualisation, mindfulness practices, affirmations, journaling, creative writing and artwork.

For more information, read about our prenatal and parent mentoring services. 

You can speak with us via voice or (ideally) video call for up to 1 hour at a time.
Please message us to book a slot in advance, this way you will not be kept waiting and we can maximise the time we have. 

We will be available at the following times (GMT or, after 28th March, GMT+1)

Roshnii: Thursdays ~ 2-3pm, 3.30-4.30pm, 5-6pm
Supriya: Saturdays ~ 2-3pm, 3.30-4.30pm, 5-6pm       

Donations are welcome but not required. We do not want lack of money to be an obstacle.      
If you find it hard to reach out and ask for help, know that we too have been there and encourage you to push through the block that is holding you back. We all need one another during this testing time and this is a chance to receive some well-deserved support. 

If you have any questions, get in touch.

We look forward to connecting with you. 
Roshnii and Supriya

Babywearing, motherhood, postpartum, reviews

How and why I wore my babies

Roshnii Rose

Before you read about my experiences of babywearing, take a look at these amazing images depicting Portuguese women in the earlier 20th Century carrying their babies.

portugal-babywearing

I loved using baby carriers to hold my babies close while on the move or at home, when they were little and needed cuddles while enabling me to keep my hands free.

By carrying my children I felt connected to women all over the world, through the ages and in different cultures who have done the same. It seemed the most natural way to move from place to place with a young baby as I was able to smell him, feel his body against mine, listen to his sounds, talk to him. He could see what I could see and be involved in my interactions with the world. I knew straight away when he was hungry and could also feed him while in the carrier if necessary. He didn’t need to cry to get my attention and he could sleep cuddled up against my body, where he felt safe and relaxed, not to mention soothed by my movements and heartbeat, which resembled what he felt in the womb. Continue reading “How and why I wore my babies” →

baby, birth, breastfeeding, motherhood, postpartum

The amazing benefits of Skin-to-skin: Investing in your long-term wellbeing

Roshnii Rose

There is nothing more beautiful than holding your bare baby against your skin in the magical moments after birth.

For some years now, the practice skin-to-skin contact, immediately or as soon as possible after birth, has been found to be beneficial to both mum and baby.

Newborn skin to skin

However, here in Portugal, it is still common practice for the pediatrician to take the baby away for medical checks in the first crucial minutes  or hours after birth. Here, I am going to explain why asserting your right to spend the first hour of life skin-to-skin with your baby is an investment in the long-term health and wellbeing of both of you.

You may want to discuss your preferences with your caregivers during your prenatal appointments so that they know how important it is to you that you have an uninterrupted hour of skin-to-skin time immediately after birth. Your partner, doula or birth companion will need to assert your wish to have this skin-to-skin period at the birth when you, the mother, may not feel like speaking up.

Skin-to-skin, or Kangaroo Care (KC) as it is known specifically when the baby is in an upright chest-to-chest position with the parent, is not just something nice to do with your newborn. There are many important and tangible health benefits for both mother and baby.

Continue reading “The amazing benefits of Skin-to-skin: Investing in your long-term wellbeing” →

motherhood, our work, postpartum

‘Closing the Bones’ – Every mother’s birthright

supriyahorn

My first experience of having my ‘bones closed‘ after the birth of my daughter was with Rocio, a shaman, healer and ethnobotanist from Ecuador, who touched my body and could feel straight away how my energy was both blocked and leaking out of me. It is a bit of blur what followed but suffice to say I felt quite different when I left the clinic that day after having been jiggled and massaged by Rocio’s warm healing hands. Some years later, as a doula, I heard about a technique called ‘Closing the Bones’ being taught by two doulas, Maddie and Sophie. At the time I didn’t realise it was the same technique that Rocio had given to me, but I felt drawn to the idea of closing the body after birth so decided to learn in order to offer it to birth clients postpartum.

It turned out that Maddie and Sophie had been trained by Rocio to pass on the techniques. During the workshop I had a profound experience with the woman I was working with. As she rocked my pelvis with a rebozo in a technique called sifting, I felt held and nurtured. I went back to a memory of myself in my own mother’s womb; energy started to flow throughout my body and I experienced something similar to a full body orgasm. I wasn’t able to formulate any words for several minutes after. It felt like my whole body had been bathed in a healing light. I continued to experience the effects of what we had experientially learnt during that workshop for several days. One of the most poignant realisations was of feeling like I had come back home to myself. I felt centred and complete, which meant that I was able to be with my daughter in a completely different way.

Continue reading “‘Closing the Bones’ – Every mother’s birthright” →

motherhood, reflections

Arising through motherhood: Rebirthing myself

Roshnii Rose

Time and time again, I’ve found myself lost in the depths of intense mothering of young children that has swallowed me whole – to the extent that I no longer know who I am or what I want.
At those moments, my spirit calls up from the well, gasping for air.
Continue reading “Arising through motherhood: Rebirthing myself” →